Reliving The Crazy: Michele Bachmann's Greatest Hits

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) announced Tuesday her tenure in Congress will come to an end in 2014. First elected in 2006, the Minnesota congresswoman rose to fame -- and notoriety -- around the 2008 election, after which there was a cushy place in the GOP for her brand of apocalyptic hysteria and zealous social conservatism.

Here are some of her greatest hits.

1) Barack Obama Has 'Anti-American Views'

One MSNBC appearance in October 2008 all but sealed Bachmann's reputation -- as a paranoid wacko to liberals and a fearless hero to the tea party crowd.

"Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views," she said of candidate Barack Obama. "That's what the American people are concerned about."

And members of Congress should be investigated for having anti-American views, she added. "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?"

2) Obamacare Allows Abortion Field Trips For 13-Year-Olds

Referring to patient privacy protections in the Affordable Care Act, Bachmann wondered if young teenagers could go get abortions during school days.

"Does that mean that someone's 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night?" she said on the House floor. "Mom and Dad are never the wiser."

3) Census Data Can Put You In Internment Camps

In a June 2009 Fox News interview, Bachmann linked the census to Japanese internment camps.

"Between 1942 and 1947," she said, "the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into internment camps. I'm not saying that that's what the administration is planning to do. But I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against them to round them up in violation of their constitutional rights."

4) Iraq Should Reimburse America For Being Liberated

During a debate while running for the Republican nomination for president, Bachmann said Iraq and Libya should reimburse the United States for being liberated.

"Cutting back on foreign aid is one thing. Being reimbursed by nations that we have liberated is another," she said. "We should look to Iraq, and Libya, to reimburse us for part of what we have done to liberate these nations."

5) Founding Fathers 'Worked Tirelessly' To End Slavery

In a Jan. 2011 speech, Bachmann credited the Founders with ending slavery, even though it was abolished generations after they died.

"We know there was slavery that was still tolerated when the nation began," she said. "We know that was an evil and it was scourge and a blot and a stain upon our history. But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States."

6) HPV Vaccine Leads To 'Mental Retardation'

While running for president, Bachmann said she has reason to believe the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has "dangerous consequences" such as mental retardation.

"There's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine," she told on Fox News. "She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result. There are very dangerous consequences."

7) People Keep Urging Me To Impeach Obama

Just this month, Bachmann floated the possibility of impeaching President Obama.

"As I have been home in my district, in the 6th District of Minnesota," she said on Capitol Hill, "there isn't a weekend that hasn't gone by that someone says to me, 'Michele, what in the world are you all waiting for in Congress? Why aren't you impeaching the president? He's been making unconstitutional actions since he came into office.'"

About The Author

Sahil Kapur is TPM's senior congressional reporter and Supreme Court correspondent. His articles have been published in the Huffington Post, The Guardian and The New Republic. Email him at sahil@talkingpointsmemo.com and follow him on Twitter at @sahilkapur.